Hockey players flood outdoor rinks in Guelph

Chasing the puck

GUELPH — The recipe for a quality outdoor rink takes very few ingredients – most of which are beyond the control of the rink builders.

But with the recent snowfall and colder temperatures, all that is needed now is a bit of equipment and free time.

Guelph’s Julian Sinclair has volunteered to build the rinks at Lyon Park for the past four years, and he’s got it down to an art. The smaller rink is built on the baseball diamond because the ground there freezes faster and doesn’t absorb the water as much as the grass, he said in a phone interview on Monday.

As the owner of Sinclair Landscape Services he has access to a number of machines to help him do the job, although he said they aren’t necessary to making a good rink. When there is enough snow on the ground, he will pat down the area and then flood it. This will create about an inch of ice. After this is done, all that is needed is repeated flooding and cold weather.

The smaller rink at Lyon Park was completed in three days and is becoming a hot spot for young hockey players. A larger “NHL-sized” rink is planned to be built when Guelph gets another snowfall, Sinclair said.